Ode To This Tree

I love nature. I really do. I love animals and their habitats and humans are evil for destroying them and all that. You all know I love all things nature??

So believe me when I say it breaks my heart that one of these days, this tree is coming down.

Our house was built in 1950. You can tell the whole block used to be a forest because there are trees and tree stumps everywhere. In our yard alone, there are 4 of these beauties. I love trees, I really do. They bring all kinds of wholesome, clean oxygen to our air thanks to all that photosynthesizing they do. They also bring shade from the burning sun. Our house doesn’t have air conditioning (yet) but thanks to these trees, the house stays relatively cool because of the wonderful canopy cover.

There are two main reasons this beautiful piece of nature has to go. First, as you can see, it is as close to the house as a tree can possibly get to a house without growing through it. I don’t know who’s idea it was to build a house this close to a tree in the first place but there’s only one thing to do about it now. You see, this tree, has a network of roots. Very large and in charge roots that have the strength of Kratos in that they can grow through concrete. It’s not showing now but eventually, it can become quite possible that this tree will pierce the concrete walls of our foundation and affect our home in a very expensive way. We have insurance of course but it’s better to nip this in the bud as soon as monetarily possible.

The other reason tree gotta go is because it’s interrupting my sleep. I’m sure you’re asking yourself, how does a stagnant tree interrupt someone’s sleep? You may think that maybe the branches are brushing against the window but the branches are taller than the house and we sleep on the first floor so that is not the case. The reason the tree is interrupting my sleep is because it causes my husband to wake me up in the middle of the night to have conversations such as this:

(me, nicely content in dream land)

“Wife…”

…..

“WIFE…..”

(is this really happening.. tell me this isn’t happening…)

“CHANEL!!”

“WHAT!!!!”

“Did you hear that??”

“Are you serious?”

“Did you?”

“Hear what?”

“That loud thump upstairs.”

“Of course I didn’t hear it! I was asleep! Why did you wake me up? It’s the middle of the night!”

“I wanted to make sure I didn’t imagine it”

“And you had to wake me up for that??”

“I’m gonna go check it out”

*grumbles”

“I investigated the situation and I don’t know what thumped. I’m gonna go to work now. Sorry I woke you up. I love you.”

“I love you too. Go away.”

I am a very light sleeper. Lights and the softest sounds can wake me up which is why the cats get banned from sleeping in the room cause they’ll yowl their heads off like roosters at the crack of dawn when they want out. Once my sleep is interrupted, it’s really hard to go back to sleep especially when you’re counting the minutes til your alarm goes off. Who ENJOYS being woken up before their alarm?? I sure don’t.

Turns out a branch fell off the tree, hit the roof of the house, and smashed on the concrete. Clearly, this tree has a history of things falling out of it. Remember Mr. Squirrel? So I’m sorry to have to cut down something that has probably been standing there for hundreds of years but tree, you gotta go.

What do you think of this situation? Let me know in the comments below!

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26 thoughts on “Ode To This Tree”

It’s awfully close to the house, those roots are hell on foundations and sewer pipes never mind it’s falling branches. I say if you have to cut it down and plant a new one a bit further from the house.

Poor tree 😦 i hate seeing them cut down, it makes me so sad! Our neighbor behind our house cut down two trees on the property line (they were actually on OUR property but thats another story!) they aren’t actually bad neighobors, it was a misunderstanding but still, I cried.
I cried for days! Everytime I looked out to where the trees were, I got upset again. My husband actually went out and bought a gazebo so I wouldn’t have to look at it. It’s nice under the gazebo, I do miss the little birds that liked to flit around the trees, thought!

We have a giant poplar in behind our house that has so many dead branches. It makes me sad, but i know it has to go before it causes serious damage to our home or the neighbours.

That’s the hardest part. You don’t want to cut down a living creatures home but it’s ultimately more of a danger to you or your neighbors, not to mention costly, if it doesn’t get cut down. 😦 I’m right there with you Jo-Ann all the way!

Nel, what a touching post. I feel the same way you do. Losing a tree is like losing a friend. We just had a barn built and had to cut a tree down. I cringed. It was so established and even though we live in the woods with a million more, losing it was heartbreaking. I’m sorry you have to lose the tree, but it’s so close to the house! We had to lose a few that were too close to our house and sadly a storm took one of them out and it landed on our garage a few years ago. It was such a pain having to have all the repairs done.

I’m a light sleeper too, lol. You’re story made me chuckle. I think you have to do what you have to do, my sweet tree loving friend. ❤

Thanks, Mischenko. I just feel so bad cause our forests are dwindling but it’ll we be even more expensive if the tree encroaches on the house more than it already has.
I’m glad I could make you smile a little even through the thought of a tree loss 🙂

I’d feel really sad cutting down that old tree, too, but you made a lot of reasonable arguments to do so. Maybe once the tree is gone you could plant a younger version a little further from the house?

Our home owners association wants to remove our super tall hedge and replace it with a plastic fence that wouldn’t be near as tall. My hubby and I hate the idea. The hedge is lovely and is a home for many birds. Plus, it hides the neighbors fully. The plastic fence wouldn’t.

Oh god. I agree with you. A natural fence is way better than a plastic one any day! I hope they listen to you and your husband or at least replace the natural hedge with another natural hedge. Animals and humans like their privacy!

Nel, you are a horrible person for cutting down a tree that almost certainly will eat your house from the foundation up. How dare you try to protect your home? Trees have rights, too ya know! The tree was there first! Just because it will cause you to fall through the floor into the root-infested basement is no excuse. You have medical insurance, how dare you try to preserve your home and health. Seriously though, cutting a tree may seem mean, but can you imagine a world without wooden things? Can you imagine a world without paper? Can you imagine a world without books? Can you imagine a world without toilet paper? Plant more trees elsewhere. Think about species that ill make the birds/animals in your area the happiest. 🙂

I can imagine a world without paper but that’s about it but not toilet paper hahaha. Yeah. That space could be used for some native flowers so we can attract some hummingbirds! Either way it’s going to hurt. To cut it down and my wallet.